When I was just a wee boy my parents always told me to be polite mind my P’s and Q’s as they liked to call it. Basically remember to say Please and remember to say Thank You, not hard to remember is it? And I am certain that many people remember their parents saying the same or something very similar. So why is it that when it comes to social networking so many people forget this completely?

Before I get accused of going off on a rant, this isn’t a rant at all merely a look into how some people seem to forget that when they are talking to people online no matter what the medium they forget their manners. Lets take my current favorite social media and the one that everyone is talking about “Twitter”. I have been on there for a while and built up a fair following that I am very proud of as they keep me highly informed and entertained.

However every now and again when I follow people I get the inevitable messages from people “Hey here is a free dead wombat! Click here!”. Back in March I was luck enough to attend a Stompernet Live event where Perry Belcher gave a fantastic presentation on how he had built thousands of followers in under 190 days. He described this as the bbq syndrome. Basically when you go to a bbq and you grab a beer or get handed one depending on how well you know the hosts, then you talk to your friends and fellow guests and get introduced to those you don’t know.

Many believe that the right way to behave on Twitter is to open the door and say “Hi Come on in! Before we let you go out the back and meet everyone just sit down in front of this white board and let me tell you a little bit about what I do!” I am the first to admit that Twitter is a very powerful marketing tool but most of the people I follow are recommended to me by other people I follow as they feel I will find them interesting. Personally I am not interested in having a billion followers like some celebs out there who feel their ego needs polishing in order to get on with their lives, but having people follow me who are interested in the same things I am is important to me.

So some of the things that people do that I feel are rude and need to have a serious think about are:

1. Posting a link that takes you to a brief of the link that you actually meant to post because you want people to visit your blog, don’t do it please its boring and I as many of those I know on Twitter will unfollow you for it.
2. Please for the love of small furry animals don’t introduce yourself to me by saying “Hey come and look at this…..” Cause chances are I already have two of them and if I don’t I probably don’t want it in the first place. Seriously are you telling me you convert with this trash?
3. If you are going to send me a DM telling me how wonderful your new follower is or asking me a question and you want a DM reply you need to follow me back!!!! If you are struggling with Twitter and how it works then you can read a simple guide on it and I am sure they all tell you that it is a permission based media for DM’s!
4. Please don’t follow me then unfollow me and get upset if I don’t follow you back! If I haven’t followed you back it is probably because you don’t have the same interests as me so I am doing us both a favor in the long run.
5. Do not complain about the number of bots that follow you if you are using an auto follow program.

Making sure that you get the right balance in what you do on Twitter is not an art form as some may tell you it is but it is just being yourself and if you would thrust your products in peoples faces the second you meet them and get annoyed when they don’t want to know you, carry on. However if you are like most of the planet and have an ounce of respect then please introduce yourself, give good information and convince me that you are worthy of purchasing from before you try and sell me toothpaste for my sleeping disorder. Just ask yourself simply “What would my parents say if they knew I was behaving like this….!”